Hot Rods How to Safely Jack a Vehicle Past Max Height of Floor Jack?

Ok, so I need to swap a TH400 trans into my car, and getting the trans under the frame rail and installed using a trans jack requires me to get the car pretty high up in the air.

Since I didn't want to be underneath the car with my jack stands extended to their max, I built some wheel cribs for the wheels to sit in/on. The cribs are built using 2x4's, and they're 16" x 16" and 15" tall. I'm using a 3 ton floor jack and I think I have enough lift on the rear diff to get the rear wheels on the wheel cribs, but I'm not sure about the front.

How would I go about lifting the front to sufficient height? I'll be jacking on an engine crossmember but the car has IFS, so the front wheels will droop, so I'm guessing I'll need close to 30" of lift in the front, and that's 7" or so past the max lift on my floor jack.

I'm familiar with jack extenders -- metal and rubber -- that can provide some additional lift -- something like this -- https://www.proeagle.com/products/f...6e08cd7450cbbdddc64c6cf2e8891f6d48747c6d56d2c. And then there's the 4x4 sitting on top of the jack, but that always seemed sketchy to me. I could also use some cribbing of some sort under the floor jack or a bottle jack (I have a 20 ton bottle jack that lifts about 17"), but that's not something I have tried before.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks,

Scott

 

Be very careful. You've covered the options, pretty much. If you crib the floor jack, it must be a hard surface that allows it to move as the jack extends and it's going to be heavy and awkward to move.

Your cribbing boxes are taller than mine by about 4 1/2". I can use a jack extender and get my cars high enough for my cribs. I might have to use one or two 2x4's to do so.

Fortunately for me, I have a 2 post lift when I need to go higher than the cribbing boxes. You might consider asking a friend to let you use his lift.

 

I can get a TH400 into/out of mine with them sitting on stands. It takes a bit of fiddling to get the bellhousing to fit below the frame, including tilting the transmission jack (making sure the converter is retained) and getting it in just the right spot to clear the frame.

Sounds like an interesting dilemma, I'll be watching to see what you come up with.

 

What about pulling out your shocks (I'm assuming they are inside the front coil springs), and making a solid piece to replace the shock and lock the spring in place? You might even be able to use a length of chain. That way the lower control arm won't drop as you raise the car.

 

place a 6x6' wood block on your floor jack

 

Older floor jacks have a large saddle, that a 4x6 will fit on nicely...newer jacks have a small saddle, that makes adding a big block of wood kind of precarious.

 

This is your safe answer, create a safe riser for the floor jack to sit on to get higher lift.

They do sell floor jack extensions for big tire jacked up 4x4 rigs but I'd be a bit worried about lifting anything more than a couple inches off the ground/floor with one of them,

 

Agreed with you on cribbing the floor jack; rolling would be the problem.

I can easily take the top two layers of boards off my cribbing boxes; that would be 3" less that I needed to lift.

Unfortunately for me, I sold my 4 post lift about 2 months ago. It took up too much room in my 2 car garage and blocked out all my light, too.

Thanks for the input.

 

I could probably do the job with just jack stands, too, but they would be at or near their maximum height and that just makes me nervous.

Thanks

 

BTDT! Put the trans under the tunnel on top of a couple stubby 4x4's, roll the trans jack alongside the jack, position yourself alongside the trans jack and then force the trans up onto the jack while pushing the jack under the trans. Then secure it onto the jack. Oh, and don't put the heavy assed converter in until you have the trans on the jack! I usta do this pretty regularly, until I got my lift. Total game changer!

 

Didn't think of that; same concept as using limiting straps/chains to reduce front end travel. That's an option.

Thanks for the input.

 

I guess that depends on the jack stands you have. I have half a dozen old 5 ton stands, they are tall and stable. If you just have smaller stands, or modern chinese copies of stands, yeah, that would make me nervous too.

 

I have an 8' long 2x10 that I can slice, dice, and screw together any way I want. If I needed something for the back, I could just cut a few 10" sections and screw them together so I'd have a 10" x 10" x 3" or 4" block to place under the rear diff.

For the front, it would have to be narrower than what I use in the back, but instead of just a 6x6, I would prefer to have something with a shape that fits the crossmember under the engine so there's less chance of slipping. I could probably spend some time with a rasp and a sander to fashion something that would fit the underside of the crossmember.

Thanks

 

That was my plan before I built the cribs - get the trans under the car, then get it on the trans jack and then install the converter. Now that I have the wheel cribs, my hope is to wheel the trans all ready to go.

Thanks

 

lifting the trans onto the jack, under the car, is a pain....and requires help.

 

I have four 6-ton stands from HF. I also have two ancient stands that are taller and larger than these, but not sure what the weight rating is. I have several other pairs, too, but all smaller than 6 ton.

I would probably be fine with these, but I tend to get a bit paranoid when I'm under a car. I've seen and heard of too many horror stories, and I have a 10 year old daughter that would like to have her Dad around for a while.

Thanks

 

I'm a big guy, and I'm sure I could wrassle it into submission, but I'd prefer not to if I didn't have to.

Thanks

 

I've been using stands for decades, and never had any problems...but I'm pretty careful. I understand your concern, when things go wrong, it can be really bad.

 

I'm careful too, and ensure that I have backups should anything fail, but I still don't like being under a car when jack stands are that high up.

Thanks

 

A BendPak lift isn't really that expensive. There's probably off brand stuff that is cheaper. My back doesn't want me to wrestle transmissions around under a car with inches to work with. So happy I sprung for the lift.

 

Well, you should have help, but I'm pretty sure every time I did it I was solo, and I'm scrawny! You just gotta get a bit mad at the thing first....

 

I actually had a 4 post lift in the garage until about 2 months ago. It was just too crowded for my 2 car garage and blocked all my light so I sold it.

 

Put the rear on cribs and the front on jackstands, slide the trans in from the rear between the rear end pumpkin and the crib

 

I lucked onto some 2x8 long boards a few years ago. I cut them into 8x8 squares and when concerned about jack stands being too extended I put them on a stack of those. I have done what you are planning a few times and once I get the vehicle high enough I put every kind of support under it that I can.

 

My new jack is the orange one - it's a long reach 3 ton from HF with an average sized saddle. Shown next to my old 2.5 ton aluminum jack for size comparison. If I were to place a 6x6 or something similar on it, I was thinking about routing or chiseling out a section of the 6x6 about 3/4" deep in the shape of the saddle so the 6x6 doesn't slip on the saddle.

 

this one has been lifting cars for me since 1989.....huge saddle on a big pin, it lifts out, no retainer.

 

The price of 2x4 - probably cheaper to buy a bigger jack and tall ramps.

 

HF ATV/MC lift is what I use.
“Someday” I will get a 4 post lift. “Someday”…

Edit: much more stable than a floor Jack with a block of wood/etc on it.

 

The ones that have a 1,500 lb rating and lift height of 17"…? I don't see how that's better in this case.

 

Well if a TH400 can get under the vehicle from the side of it, I can as well. The ATV Jack will easily get the trans in place.
Obviously won’t if the vehicle is blocked up high enough to sit under.
But I’ll take the ATV lift over a floor Jack every time. And I have used floor jacks as well.